Developers can now set tax categories in App Store Connect

Announced in a post to Apple’s developer website, the feature addition streamlines the tax collection process for app makers.

Depending on local laws, content creators, distributors and merchants must pay varying tax rates on sold digital goods and services. Apple administers tax on behalf of developers in 64 of the 175 territories where the App Store is available, though the company needs additional information to properly assess fees.

With tax categories in App Store Connect, developers can assign apps to categories like videos, books, news publications and more, enabling Apple to determine which tax regulations apply in each territory.

Developers can access the new feature in the Pricing and Availability section of App Store Connect, which displays a list of categories that might apply to a given app or in-app purchase. Apple notes that in-app purchases can be managed separately.

Once saved, category selections will be applied to future transactions. A summary of assessed taxes will be provided in a developer’s Transaction Tax report a full month after settings are configured.

Apps that are not assigned to a to the tax categories section will be given the same tax rate used by the current App Store software category.